PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes dismissed a criminal case against Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and others accused of attempting to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election loss in the state. Mayes plans to present the case to a grand jury again to seek a new indictment.

This dismissal occurred to bypass a Friday deadline for new grand jury proceedings, a deadline that arose after Mayes lost an appeal in June 2026. Defense attorneys previously argued that the original grand jury was not shown relevant portions of state law governing presidential election certification. The Arizona Attorney General's office stated that the case requires substantial evidence presentation and additional time to accommodate defendants' requests to testify.

The Arizona legal action charges 18 defendants with conspiracy, including two former Trump aides, five attorneys who worked for Trump, and eleven Republicans who signed a document stating Trump won Arizona. The indictment was filed approximately three and a half years after the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won in Arizona by 10,457 votes.

Some defendants claimed they signed the alternate elector document as a contingency plan in case Trump won legal challenges and a new slate of electors was required before the January 6 congressional deadline. The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorneys filed twelve requests to dismiss the Arizona case. A second judge assigned to the case ordered the matter returned to a grand jury after the first judge recused himself in late 2024. The first judge's recusal followed the surfacing of an email showing he directed fellow judges to oppose attacks on Kamala Harris' campaign.

Courts have previously dismissed similar fake elector cases in Michigan and Georgia. A federal special prosecutor dropped a case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. These cases concluded after Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Cases remain active in Nevada and Wisconsin. In Nevada, charges were dismissed in 2024 after a judge ruled Clark County was an incorrect venue, but prosecutors refiled them in Carson City later that year.

Arizona defense attorneys argued that state law permitted the submission of multiple slates of electors if election results were disputed. Federal law, amended in 2022, requires that a state submit only one slate of electors certified by the governor. Three defendants in the Arizona case have resolved their cases, with one pleading guilty to a misdemeanor.

Both Republican candidates challenging Kris Mayes in the upcoming election have publicly pledged to dismiss the charges if elected. Mayes is running unopposed in the July 21 primary election.

No independent assessment of Kris Mayes’s claims was available.